573936-37 bk Bach EU.qxp_573936-37 bk Bach 27/06/2018 11:00 Page 2 CD 1 63:49 CD 2 53:15 CD 2 Arioso from St John Passion, BWV 245 1Partita in E major, BWV 1006a 20:41 1Suite in E minor, BWV 996 18:18 # # Prelude 2:51 Consider, O my soul 2 Prelude 4:13 2 Betrachte, meine Seel’ Allemande 3:02 3 Loure 3:58 3 Betrachte, meine Seel’, mit ängstlichem Vergnügen, Consider, O my soul, with fearful joy, consider, Courante 2:40 4 Gavotte en Rondeau 3:29 4 Mit bittrer Lust und halb beklemmtem Herzen in the bitter anguish of thy heart’s affliction, Sarabande 4:24 5 Menuet I & II 4:43 5 Dein höchstes Gut in Jesu Schmerzen, thy highest good is Jesus’ sorrow. Bourrée 1:33 6 Bourrée 1:51 6 Wie dir auf Dornen, so ihn stechen, For thee, from the thorns that pierce Him, Gigue 2:27 Gigue 3:48 Die Himmelsschlüsselblumen blühn! what heavenly flowers spring. Du kannst viel süße Frucht von seiner Wermut brechen Thou canst the sweetest fruit from his wormwood gather, 7Suite in C minor, BWV 997 22:01 7Suite in G minor, BWV 995 25:15 Drum sieh ohn Unterlass auf ihn! then look on Him for evermore. Prelude 6:11 8 Prelude 3:11 8 Allemande 6:18 9 Fugue 7:13 9 Sarabande 5:28 0 Courante 2:35 Recitativo from St Matthew Passion, BWV 244b 0 $ $ Gigue & Double 6:09 ! Sarabande 2:50 Gavotte I & II 4:43 Ja freilich will in uns Yes! Willingly will we ! @ Prelude in C minor, BWV 999 1:55 Gigue 2:38 Ja freilich will in uns das Fleisch und Blut Yes! Willingly will we, Flesh and blood, Zum Kreuz gezwungen sein; Be brought to the cross; @ Fugue in G minor, BWV 1000 5:46 #Arioso from St John Passion, BWV 245 2:24 Je mehr es unsrer Seele gut, The harsher the pain Arioso: Betrachte, meine Seel’ Je herber geht es ein. The better for our souls. Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E flat major, BWV 998 13:24 Recitativo from St Matthew Passion, # Aria from St Matthew Passion, BWV 244b $ Prelude 3:04 $BWV 244b 0:41 % % Recitativo: Ja freilich will in uns % Fugue 6:32 Komm, süßes Kreuz Come, sweet cross Allegro 3:48 Komm, süßes Kreuz, so will ich sagen, Come, sweet cross, so will I say, Aria from St Matthew Passion, Mein Jesu, gib es immer her! My Jesus, ever give it me! %BWV 244b 6:31 Wird mir mein Leiden einst zu schwer, If my sufferings are ever too heavy, Aria: Komm, süßes Kreuz So hilfst du mir es selber tragen. Thou helpest me to bear them. Yasunori Imamura, Baroque Lute # % with Dominik Wörner, Bass-baritone (CD 2 – )$ Karl Kaiser, Zsuzsa Csige, Transverse Flute (CD 2 )# Christoph Hesse, Joha#nn%a Weber, Viola d’amore (CD 2 ) # % Haralt Martens, Violone (CD 2 – ) • Aki Noda-Meurice, Organ (CD 2 – ) 1 @ Instruments: 13 course Baroque lute made by José Miguel Moreno, #201%0 (CD 1 7 –% ), 14 course Baroque lute made by José Miguel Moreno, 2011 (CD 1 – , 1CD6 2 – ), 13 course Baroque lute made by Hendrik Hasenfuss, 2012 (CD 2 – ) All works played from copies of Bach’s manuscripts. An intabulated edition by Yasunori Imamura of the music on this recording (fully revised in 2018) is published by Tree Edition, Germany (www.tree-edition.com). 8.573936-37 2 7 8.573936-37 573936-37 bk Bach EU.qxp_573936-37 bk Bach 27/06/2018 11:00 Page 6 appeal. The Gigue , returning to the fugal intricacies of the Courante , complements the Allemande being in the Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Presto , provides an exciting virtuosic finale. Its passages French style with strong statements and its own lively Complete Works for Lute in thirds and tenths are technically challenging and its dotted rhythms. The Sarabande is characterised by single weaving lines traverse almost the entire range of the notes and a remarkable melodic simplicity. The This recording offers the complete lute works of J.S. Bach following the death of Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722), fingerboard. subsequent Gavottes I & II return the listener to the including all the solo works as well as pieces from the Kantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig, Bach was The Suite in G minor, BWV 995 is an arrangement of physical energy of the dance, Gavotte II adding to the St John Passion and the St Matthew Passion , where the appointed as his successor. Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011 . On the variety with its elegant triplets. The final Gigue with its lute appears in an ensemble setting. The depth and During this time, Bach is believed to have been in autograph copy (at the Bibliothèque royal de Belgique, strongly accented rhythms and insistent impetus provides, breadth of Bach’s interest in the lute and its sonorities are contact with two esteemed lute-players, Sylvius Leopold Brussels) is the heading Pièces pour la Luth à Monsieur with its two-part writing, a superbly brilliant climax. thus amply demonstrated. The variety of the composer’s Weiss (1687–1750) and Johann Kropffgans (1708–c. 1770). Schouster par J.S. Bach , while inside are the words Suite The St Matthew Passion and the St John Passion are output in this area is considerable, covering different (Around this period, he transcribed his Fifth Cello Suite for pour la Luth par J.S. Bach. two of Bach’s greatest works, monumental masterpieces periods of his life. lute and arranged the Third Violin Partita for lute- The suite begins ostensibly with a Prelude in the form exemplifying the culmination of the Baroque musical A brief biographical summary is perhaps relevant to harpsichord, BWV 1006a . The Suite in C minor, BWV of a French overture with the first section in duple time, tradition. Betrachte, meine Seel’ , from the St John an understanding of the lute works. Bach’s first 997 for lute, and the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV the second in triple time. But as the Bach scholar David Passion features a lute part as an integral part of the professional appointment was as organist at Arnstadt, a 998 , were written between 1740 and 1745.) Bach stayed Ledbetter has pointed out, this movement ‘fully represents orchestral texture. The brief Ja freilich will in uns from the few miles from his birthplace, at the age of 17 in 1703. in this post until his death in 1750. The later years saw the the late-Baroque development of the overture to include St Matthew Passion , is followed by Komm, süßes Kreuz, Two years later he travelled to Lübeck, not far from creation of the St John Passion , the St Matthew Passion , elements of Italian style’, such as a fully developed fugue. with a poignant arrangement for lute (often performed by Hamburg, to hear the playing of Dietrich Buxtehude the Christmas Oratorio and the second book of The Well- The Allemande , in the French style with appropriate the viola da gamba) of the introduction and coda. (c. 1637–1707), staying there for four months and Tempered Clavier. dotted rhythms, is an exquisitely lilting dance clustered exceeding his permitted leave of absence from Arnstadt. Of all Bach’s compositions only seven works ( BWV with delicate embellishment. The third movement, Graham Wade The following year he became organist at Mühlhausen 995–1000 and 1006a ) are listed as being for lute. Out of where on 17 October 1707, he married his distant cousin, these it is not certain that each composition was intended Maria Barbara. for the lute. What is known is that three works ( BWV 995 , Resigning from the post in June 1708, Bach was 997 , and 1000 ) are extant in 18th-century tablature appointed chamber musician and organist at the court of copies. One difficulty is that the lute pieces are often not Wilhelm Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1707–1717). (The ideally suited to performance on the Baroque lute, given Suite in E minor , BWV 996 , is dated within this period, the tunings as we know them, without some emendations. shortly after 1712.) In 1714 he was promoted from court The German lute virtuoso, Lutz Kirchhof, has organist to Kapellmeister, a position which obliged him to observed that ‘if one attempts to play the pieces exactly ‘perform new works monthly’. as they appear in the autograph, one fact becomes clearly In 1716 Bach was offered the post of Kapellmeister at apparent: Bach was not a lutenist!’ The problems, the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen where he however, are soon resolved as during the Baroque era ‘it became court conductor with an orchestra of 17 was the task of the instrumentalist to make the piece musicians. Between 1717 and 1723, he composed the playable and Bach could safely assume that the Suites for unaccompanied violin and cello, the necessary interventions would be carried out expertly and Brandenburg Concertos , the first book of The Well- as a matter of course.’ Tempered Clavier , the French and English Suites for Though no such instrument has survived from Bach’s keyboard, and the Prelude in C minor, BWV 999 . time, the existence of the lute-harpsichord may have been In 1720, while Bach was in Karlsbad with his a significant focus of the composer’s work. At the time of employer, Prince Leopold, his wife suddenly died, leaving Bach’s death his inventory of possessions included two him with four children to care for. Within 18 months, Bach lute-harpsichords, as well as three harpsichords, one lute, married Anna Magdalena, with whom he would have 13 and a spinet.